The statin web widens
If you breathe, you should be on a statin drug. Just in case, of course. You have a heart, right? If so, you could be in danger of it one day stopping!
Look, I'm not trying to make light of heart disease. It's no laughing matter. And I'm certainly not laughing at the drug company's ongoing effort to recruit new patients.
Especially considering the all-encompassing attempts to gather anyone and everyone under the statin umbrella.
Here's a classic example of what I'm talking about. You wouldn't think a blockbuster drug class like the statins could ever be considered "underused," but that's exactly what I recently read in a news report.
I thought I'd read it wrong.
But when they're saying underused, they're not meaning people with heart disease. Not by a mile. They're just not content with the number of folks that meet their over-simplified "thresholds" for statin treatment. And as the eye of Big Pharma has been roving for newer, more fertile ground, one group that it's now targeting is diabetics.
Statistics have cited that people with diabetes have a 20 percent risk of eventually developing heart disease. Drug companies are hoping to sway diabetics to begin statin treatment to stave off possible future heart attacks and strokes.
According to the results of an analysis, researchers stated that diabetic patients saw a benefit from statin treatment—even if they weren't showing signs of heart disease!
The illogic of that finding is astounding, because according to the study, you need to treat 165 patients for a year to prevent just one of those from progressing to heart disease. Yet it's touted as proof-positive that statins are responsible for any and all good that occurs in the medical world. This is the typical needle-in-a- haystack, limited-benefit—and expensive—practice of medicine that's helping to bankrupt this country and not doing much to support good health.
The analysis went on to indicate that the only exceptions for treatment should include diabetics considered to be at exceptionally low risk for heart disease, such as children, or those who are unable to take statins, such as pregnant women. When you think of how many potential patients that still leaves them, you can just imagine the drug companies starting to add up this new potential crop of profits. (What's bigger than "blockbuster?")
I wonder at times if these types of stories aren't issued for the sole purpose of testing the gullibility of John Q. Public.
If you have diabetes, don't take a statin just because your doctor tells you to. Before you make a decision to go on a drug, you need to evaluate your total risk. For example, if your father had his first heart attack at age 55 and you're obese and chronically stressed (bad job, bad marriage, poor sleep), you've got a lot of risk factors compared to a fit, diet-controlled diabetic who knows how to handle stress. I happen to think drugs are overused and that diet, exercise, good stress management, and a few well-chosen supplements confer as much (if not much more) protection as a drug—and at a fraction of the cost.
